On this week with the shortest day, winter has really begun to bite in Wellington.
OK, yes, to be honest the weather has been crap for a long time, but that was mostly wind and rain. Now it’s just soooo coooold.
Lucky for me, Simon’s manager could see months ago that the practice was going to be over doctored this week, and he encouraged everyone to take leave. And that’s why we are currently sitting on a plane en route to Fiji.
I looked up the weather forecast for this week and it’s looking pretty sweet.
Normally actually I’ll be complaining bitterly once the temperature goes above 25, but when you’re freezing your butt off it looks pretty attractive.
We are sitting back in cattle class because this plane doesn’t have extra options up there at the front. It’s only about a four hour flight so we are managing OK. And there’s free wifi! I am watching a romcom called “Marry Me” and coincidentally so is the lady in the aisle seat. Poor Simon is sitting between us, a thorn between two roses.
He’s trying to catch up on zzz’s because we’ve been up since 4:30 and we have a 2 1/2 drive in a hire car ahead of us when we arrive. Luckily he’s the worlds best power napper.
Another of his talents is filling out paperwork. He usually does all that arrival documentation while I’m watching movies. I just have to sign it. There are two forms for the Fiji government, probably something to do with COVID. He’s just shown me this question:
How bizarre is that? What sort of country are we heading to??
Simon also did all the booking of flights and accommodation. I’ve been very busy at work lately, not just with the newsletter and, you know, anaesthetising people, but I’ve also had to do a cameo appearance in the scheduling office. Not only did both the current schedulers arrange their winter holidays at the same time, but one just caught COVID in Rarotonga, and the other had their mother in law drop dead while visiting them in France. Horrible all round so I was happy to help. It’s quite fun being able to drop into the role occasionally, knowing it’s only temporary. I do miss having an office though.
The flights Simon booked have been fine – the options were limited – but the accommodation may not be so good. He was horrified to read an article this morning which listed our resort as highly recommended for backpackers. We haven’t been backpackers for decades, if ever. Oh well, it will be an adventure! Mind you, if we have to share a bunk room with a bunch of strangers I won’t be quite so sanguine about it, believe me.